Teacher's Guides

Design for Speed is a six-week unit that challenges students to apply STEM knowledge and design skills. Students engage in competitive engineering with the goal of creating the fastest and most eye-pleasing balsa wood or basswood dragster. They first develop a car concept and then build it. After a battery of tests and a speed test of their prototypes, they head back to the drawing board. Students analyze their cars for drag, mass, lift, and conformity to specifications, all with the aim of making the fastest car in the room for the culminating Day at the Races event. An aesthetics competition provides an added dimension and entices students who have an artistic flair.

Extensive web support is included such as online data tracking and exclusive access to instructional videos for each phase of the activity. Teacher familiarity with tool use and woodworking methods is required. The dragster launcher is sold separately.

The principles of the science of speed – aerodynamics, thrust, friction, Newton’s laws of motion, and so on – are at the heart of many of the most exciting applied physics and engineering projects. Let’s Get Moving, the three-week introductory unit for the Science of Speed 2 program, teaches these concepts through several projects: a pop can engine, a balloon rocket, and air-powered bottle racers. Students not only build their vehicles, they also test them and interpret data for the purposes of reengineering. Each project successively builds on the others, and at the end of the unit, students are ready to move on to the next phase in the Science of Speed process.

The unit can stand alone and comes with everything you need to successfully complete the activity. The Science of Speed 2 program comes with extensive web support such as exclusive access to instructional videos for each phase of the activity.

Don’t let students wing it – have them design CO2 dragsters using engineering concepts. This guide starts the process by teaching them about the engineering design process. As they work through the activities and design their own dragsters, students will learn about:

Specifications

Newton’s laws

Identifying and minimizing friction

Bearing surfaces

And much more!

Using the knowledge gained, they then complete two challenges that test their ability to evaluate and make design changes to improve their vehicles.

Student materials in the guide are reproducible for distribution in your classroom. Use this guide as a supplement or use the series as the base for an engineering design course.

This guide continues the process of guiding students not only in designing and building an excellent dragster but also in understanding the science and technology principles that make this happen.

Production and Fine Tuning delves into the importance of carefully aligned axles, quality paint finishes, and more topics that go beyond shaping and basic construction. Some of the principles explored are:

Alignment and drift

Rolling and sliding friction

Aerodynamic drag

Specifications and trade-offs

Symmetry

Student materials in this guide are reproducible for distribution in your classroom. Use this guide as a supplement or use the series as the base for an engineering design course.

Students start designing their own CO2 dragsters, produce a foam prototype of their dragsters, and then create a finished Custom Cruiser model. The culminating activity is to deliver a polished presentation about the process of creating the Custom Cruiser.

Through these activities and challenges, students learn about and apply several concepts:

Thumbnail sketches

Scaling

Orthographic drawings

Drafting and tools for drafting

Modeling

Student materials in the guide are reproducible for distribution in your classroom.

A must-have for teachers embarking on the Pitsco Custom Cruiser Vehicle Design activity. This book takes you through the entire activity including design concepts, CAD drawings, clay modeling, vehicle construction, and testing. Contains many helpful suggestions for implementing this activity in your classroom.